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Sourcing Metal | General Discussion

Chicken lights said:
Lots of places won’t let you walk around unsupervised anymore, or sell you anything. They say insurance regulations as a reason. I miss the “good old days” of wandering wrecking yards, too many idiots ruined it for the rest of us
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Ah, ok I get it now and I agree totally! I miss those days too.

I have found though, that if you act like you belong there nobody will stop you. Just do it and then plead ignorance. I routinely explore the backroom and the warehouse at places where I shop. You just need to watch out for the owners wife. For some reason they usually act like the junkyard dog......
 
Degen said:
In reading some of the threads for sources, here are some I try to use.

Big box stores, some and price.

Metal retail stores, better selection, can usually get you what you want at a cost.

Distributors, if they talk to you and you buy in wts that make it worth while for them likely yhe best pricing and selection.

Finally, a hidden gem, scrap buyers, I've been lucky and even gotten endmills, reamers and drill bits from them at pennies on the dollar. Material at scrap pricing plus profit which is way less than wholesale new. Make friends with them. This can be a one stop material source, if its bigger than you want buy and run.
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Degen, I’ll need to look into that a bit closer. I’m in the Vancouver area so if anyone knows a good friendly recycler please post. I recently got lucky with a machinist who got bought out and he was selling a lot of his shop material supply. I spent $4600 on a life time supply of material. Everything from 10” rounds of aluminum, 4140 steel, to 1/16th rod, brass, bronze and stainless.
 
garball said:
Degen, I’ll need to look into that a bit closer. I’m in the Vancouver area so if anyone knows a good friendly recycler please post. I recently got lucky with a machinist who got bought out and he was selling a lot of his shop material supply. I spent $4600 on a life time supply of material. Everything from 10” rounds of aluminum, 4140 steel, to 1/16th rod, brass, bronze and stainless.
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How big of a pile is $4600 worth of metal????
 
Learreply said:
Anyone have a recommendation on Auctions to check out for steel?
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Search local farm auctions. There is usually some steel/aluminium lots or even machinery (full of big metal parts) up for bid. But you won't usually do better than the scrap value cuz the scrap junk yard dogs are almost always there keeping the bids honest. No real worries about excessive pricing though. When they quit bidding you know you won at a price about half of what it would have cost you to buy retail.
 
Just thought I put this here. For the past year or so I've been buying some drops pallets and bundles from Kawartha metals through one of the managers on facebook market place. Every once in a while he'll list a bunch of stuff, usually odds n ends, or a bundle of channel, or angle etc for a take it all price usually around $0.5/lb For the home shop guy who likes to stock a bit of variety it's a pretty good deal. I've been stocking up for a couple big projects on the go, and can build around whatever I get.

I bought another bundle last night, but when talking to him, he mentioned they're thinking of setting up a walk in drops section and selling straight by the pound once covid restrictions clear up. This would be at the Peterborough location, not sure about others, but I just thought I'd post it up here.

I know it's sometimes tough to get industrial suppliers to talk to small time home shop guys, and you usually get the eff off price when you do. Kawartha is pretty good though for that though.

Also, if anybody in the east gta sees one of those bundles and wants to split it, let me know. Usually a pallet bundle is about $350, and I can pick it up on my way home from work. Search "steel" in the Peterborough region and you'll find them.
 
This only part of my latest Aluminium Purchase (about 1000lbs on this load).

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I’ll put this here for anyone in the GTHA. My employer in Burlington scraps shafts at pretty regularly that are in the 2-4” diameter range. More material than I can ever use and they don’t mind employees taking scrap steel. So if anyone needs some for a project I can probably hook you up. I’m can’t say for sure what material these OE shafts are but when we make replacements we make them from 4140.
 
Rauce said:
I’ll put this here for anyone in the GTHA. My employer in Burlington scraps shafts at pretty regularly that are in the 2-4” diameter range. More material than I can ever use and they don’t mind employees taking scrap steel. So if anyone needs some for a project I can probably hook you up. I’m can’t say for sure what material these OE shafts are but when we make replacements we make them from 4140.
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PM sent.
 
Bluebird1337 said:
I order my titanium 6al-4v from https://www.tigertitanium.com/ in USA, good service, and i didnt pay any customs fees so far.
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I’ve never ordered from them but I’ve seen Titanium Joe at trade shows before, they have a location in Kingston.

Home - Mobile - Titanium Joe

TITANIUM, TITANIUM TUBES, TITANIUM TUBE, TITANIUM TUBING, TITANIUM PIPE, TITANIUM PIPES, TITANIUM PIPING, TITANIUM ROUND TUBE, TITANIUM ROUND TUBING, TITANIUM SHEET, TITANIUM PLATE, TITANIUM BIKE, TITANIUM BICYCLE, TITANIUM BICYCLES, TITANIUM BAR, TITANIUM ROUND BAR, 6AL-4V, 3AL-2.5V, CP GRADE...
www.titaniumjoe.com www.titaniumjoe.com
 
Bluebird1337 said:
Mostly for knife making
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Rauce said:
I’ve never ordered from them but I’ve seen Titanium Joe at trade shows before, they have a location in Kingston.

Home - Mobile - Titanium Joe

TITANIUM, TITANIUM TUBES, TITANIUM TUBE, TITANIUM TUBING, TITANIUM PIPE, TITANIUM PIPES, TITANIUM PIPING, TITANIUM ROUND TUBE, TITANIUM ROUND TUBING, TITANIUM SHEET, TITANIUM PLATE, TITANIUM BIKE, TITANIUM BICYCLE, TITANIUM BICYCLES, TITANIUM BAR, TITANIUM ROUND BAR, 6AL-4V, 3AL-2.5V, CP GRADE...
www.titaniumjoe.com www.titaniumjoe.com
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Good stuff! I'm impressed.

Never tried knife making but I have a few really nice ones. I received a hand made knife from a well know knife maker as a gift for judging a dog trial and I won another one at a raffle.

Titanium has its own mystique for lots of other things though.

Thanks to both of you for pointing it out and locating a Canadian source.
 
Alixpress offers (metric) titanium fasteners in many different head configurations, some already color blinged if that's desireable. As to whether its a mil spec alloy, you be the judge.
A friend gave me a slightly bent rod from some FS aircraft, haven't found a specific use for it yet. Any specific lathe turning experience to pass on?
 

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Titanium in itself is usually used for tools, and hardware. Titanium when it comes to knife making is mostly used as an alloy in addition to carbon steel for higher hardness and corrosion resistance.
 
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